3 Things to Look For When Hiring for Your Startup

You’re trying to get your startup business off the ground. You’ve reviewed your business plan to within an inch of its life, you’ve received input from mentors and advisers, you’ve built up your foundation and you’ve steeled yourself as much as you can for the rough waters ahead. Now, you have to find people who are willing and able to navigate those waters with you. As you go about looking for people to join your business team, here are 3 things to look for when hiring for your startup:

1. Talent

This one should be obvious: you want to find people who have the skill set needed to make your business work. Make your job descriptions as detailed and specific as you can. This will help both you and your applicants know what’s expected.

Analyse your applicants’ resumes, talk to references and get samples of their previous work if possible.

During job interviews, take personality and temperament in consideration (you’ll be spending a lot of time with this person) but remember to focus on whether or not they can perform the necessary duties of the position that you need to fill.

2. Reliability

Working at a startup can involve long hours and a grueling workload. You want people who can handle that load and be there when you need them. See how long an applicant worked at his or her previous positions.

Ask references how quickly applicants get in touch (via email, phone, etc.) and how soon they show up when they’re needed.

3. Desire

Your startup may be your great dream, but that doesn’t mean that it will be your applicant’s. Take into consideration why they want the job. Are they just looking for a paycheck? If they say that they want to get in on the ground floor of a company, see if they’ve had experience with startups in the past. If this will be their first time at a startup, their enthusiasm could wear off when the going gets tough.

Once you’ve hired your team

monitor them but don’t keep breathing down their necks. You might consider investing in some active directory management software that would allow you to observe activity on your server. Depending on the type that you purchase, you could even observe what’s happening and accomplish tasks from your smartphone or tablet. In any case, you should at the very least check in on your people periodically and thank them for the good work that they do.

Over to you now. What did you look for when you were hiring for your startup? Tell us in the comments below.